chosing an estate agent

sean_bull

i plan to sell a residential property in limerick so as to buy a larger home and i am considering a few different auctioneers

not sure if i can suggest which ones but i would be grateful if someone could recommend someone , commission rates are similar as rooneys were the only ones on the high side of 1.25%

bazz26

Search of the forum returns a recent thread:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=101143818

Hooked

Take my advice. Sell it yourself!

I put my own house up on daft.ie, photographed it myself, wrote the ad, etc... had a dozen enquiries in the first 2 weeks. 3 bidders, house is sale agreed. Waiting on the paperwork. All done inside 2 months.

A LOT of the auctioneers are taking piss poor photos, doing no legwork, relying on people to shop on daft.ie, and take the calls/credit. All viewings have to go through you anyway! Cut out the middle man.

Get a old phone, a 10 euro SIM card, and keep your own number off the ad.

Go on. Save yourself a few grand!

sean_bull

wont be selling it myself but thanks

Summer wind

O Donovan's in NCW.

sean_bull

any views on dooleys or DNG

sean_bull

nearly all o donovans properties on daft are on county limerick

terrible suggestion

jsd1004

Trying to buy a house from a well known estate agent at the moment. Wont answer the phone or reply to messages. Went to one open viewing where she sat in the corner of the kitchen looking at her phone and could not even answer basic questions like where was the boiler. I really dont understand why anyone thinks getting an estate agent to sell your property is a good idea.

apc

Team Quane found them very professional, reasonable and gave great advice and were spot on with what sort of price I would get.

Summer wind

sean_bull wrote: »

nearly all o donovans properties on daft are on county limerick

terrible suggestion

Hi Sean I live very close to Limerick city and O Donovan's sold my house for me within 4 weeks and got €50,0000 more than the asking price. They are a long established company with a proven track record. Always professional and prompt. This is why I recommended them. I understand and it's completely your choice if you are not happy with the recommendation but a "terrible suggestion" they are not.

jsd1004

Summer wind wrote: »

Hi Sean I live very close to Limerick city and O Donovan's sold my house for me within 4 weeks and got €50,0000 more than the asking price. They are a long established company with a proven track record. Always professional and prompt. This is why I recommended them. I understand and it's completely your choice if you are not happy with the recommendation but a "terrible suggestion" they are not.

How did they manage to get 50k over the asking price? What did they do to attract such great interest and get so many bidders involved? That is apart from an ad on daft and one amateurish photo per property as per their website. By any chance would it have been the pool of desperate buyers out there that bid your property up by 50k?

Summer wind

jsd1004 wrote: »

How did they manage to get 50k over the asking price? What did they do to attract such great interest and get so many bidders involved? That is apart from an ad on daft and one amateurish photo per property as per their website. By any chance would it have been the pool of desperate buyers out there that bid your property up by 50k?

He knew what he was doing and priced our house very competitively at the beginning. There's no point putting a house worth €180,000 up for sale at €220,000 for example but this is exactly what lots of people do. That helped to drum up interest and we had lots of viewings very quickly. He even interested the county council out in coming out for a viewing and they also made an offer. He was available at any time at weekends and outside office hours for phone calls and emails. Always showed great interest in our property and nothing was too much trouble. He had 10 pictures of our house on with our ad and was very pleasant and professional to deal with.

At the end we had a few different offers and he kept them all going until there was a clear winning bid. Of course our house was so nice it was worth it:) We were very happy with the result and would certainly employ him again.

jsd1004

Summer wind wrote: »

He knew what he was doing and priced our house very competitively at the beginning. There's no point putting a house worth €180,000 up for sale at €220,000 for example but this is exactly what lots of people do. That helped to drum up interest and we had lots of viewings very quickly. He even interested the county council out in coming out for a viewing and they also made an offer. He was available at any time at weekends and outside office hours for phone calls and emails. Always showed great interest in our property and nothing was too much trouble. He had 10 pictures of our house on with our ad and was very pleasant and professional to deal with.

At the end we had a few different offers and he kept them all going until there was a clear winning bid. Of course our house was so nice it was worth it:) We were very happy with the result and would certainly employ him again.

So he did nothing but place an ad on daft.ie with a low ball price and take the phone calls and arrange viewings..handy 2.5k. The county council check daft like everyone else. An auctioneer will always put up a house at a low price if the seller allows it. Any house i have been to see recently are not for sale at the asking prices. A low price generates interest and an offer at asking is no guarantee of acceptance. The PPR is the only way to guide actual selling prices and all estate agents base their valuations on this, same as everyone else.
And all serious auctioneers should have video walk around with a good commentary on the house highlighting all good points views etc. And drone footage of the outside. And hire a professional photographer to take 20 prepared shots of the property.
In my experience m+c come closest in Limerick for photography/marketing a property if you were going to drop several k on an auctioneer. Nothing a seller could not do themselves though.

JustAThought

Suggestion. I remember how I was treated by estate agents when I was looking to buy last time - who was professional to deal with, what sales stFf were total tossers and timewasters, what agents had good materials and whose staff knew the house & could answer predictible questions , and what companies were a total joke to deal with and consistently wasted my time. I have three ony list I would NEVER use to sell as a consequence of that. Maybe contact a few to view & buy and use that as a benchmark of their professionalism. You will find out quite quickly after a few calls and viewings who is rubbish and who has basic skills & services and who you think might give even a satisfactory service.

Summer wind

jsd1004 wrote: »

So he did nothing but place an ad on daft.ie with a low ball price and take the phone calls and arrange viewings..handy 2.5k. The county council check daft like everyone else. An auctioneer will always put up a house at a low price if the seller allows it. Any house i have been to see recently are not for sale at the asking prices. A low price generates interest and an offer at asking is no guarantee of acceptance. The PPR is the only way to guide actual selling prices and all estate agents base their valuations on this, same as everyone else.
And all serious auctioneers should have video walk around with a good commentary on the house highlighting all good points views etc. And drone footage of the outside. And hire a professional photographer to take 20 prepared shots of the property.
In my experience m+c come closest in Limerick for photography/marketing a property if you were going to drop several k on an auctioneer. Nothing a seller could not do themselves though.

Well I guess as in every profession there are both good and bad estate agents out there. We didn't have the time or inclination to try selling our property ourselves so through recommendation we employed O Donovan's and we're happy with the end result so that's a good result in my eyes:) I fully agree there are some bad estate agents out there that are very sloppy and don't engage fully with either buyers or sellers. A lot of them don't seem to care if the property sells or not and won't even return a phone call. I can't understand this mentality and hate dealing with people like that.

Parchment

Recently bought a house and have to say all except Sherry Fitzgerald were a NIGHTMARE to deal with. We didnt even end up buying from Sherry Fitzgerald but bid on and viewed a few houses they were selling. They were polite and always professional.

I have to say every other estate agents firm we dealt with in Limerick were a total joke. The profession does nothing for its own reputation - i think the contempt many people hold for EA's is totally founded. The majority are a nasty bunch.